Connecting to the Administration database

Web applications built on Commerce Server or the Commerce Server Web Services require access to the administration database, named MSCS_Admin by default, for configuration information, including the database connection strings for the other Commerce Server databases.

The administration database connection string is usually created when running the Commerce Server Configuration Wizard, and is stored in the registry. In order to support registration free COM deployments, such as for Azure Web Apps, we have added the ability to override the registry setting, and use the <connectionStrings> section of the web.config to configure the administration database connection string:

<connectionStrings>
    <add name="ADMINDBPS" connectionString="<your MSCS_Admin connection string" />
</connectionStrings>

This connection string should be the same for your web application and all Commerce Server web services. You should use Commerce Server Manager to change the administration database connection string to match the entry in the web.config.

For reg-free COM deployments, adding the ADMINDBPS connection string is required.